Controller



Marc-h 1s,r 1930. J, EATON 1,751,400

CONTROLLER Filed May 4, 1927 J6 inventor I John Eaton His Attorneg.

Patented Mar. 18, 1930 PATE.

OFFECE JOHN EATON, or SCHENEOTADY, NEW Yoan, seien-on To GENERALELECTRIC OOM# PANY, A ooRPonATrON or New YORK CONTROLLER Applicationfiled May 4,

My invention relates to improvements in controllers and in part-icularto controllers intended for the control of a plurality of electriccircuits in a definite succession.

he invention is directed to features of construction and arrangementwhereby the controller will have a comparatively few relatively lightweight moving parts, whereby a very accurate adjustment between the suc-1-0 cessive operation of the separate switches controlling the electriccircuits may be very easily had, whereby the manufacture and assembly ofthe various parts of the controller is relatively inexpensive, andwhereby a comparatively large number of duplicate parts may be utilizedin the manufacture of the controller.

These and other features, as will either be apparent to those skilled inthe art, or as will be pointed out in detail hereinafter, are attainedin the controller shown in the accompanying drawing.

Referring to the drawing, Fig. 1 shows a skeleton view of certain of thecooperating parts of the controller in their relative positions in orderthat a quick understanding of the general features of the arrangementmay be readily had. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the controllerassembled in its casing with'resistor tubes mounted therein inconvenient position for connection with the switch terminals of thecontroller. Fig. 3 is a cross-section of the controller on the line 3-3of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the assembled controller andits enclosing case. Fig. 5 shows a detail of one'of the adjustableoperating rollers which operate the various contacts of the controller.Fig. 6 shows another detail of the method of mount- 4.0v ing the shaftof the controller in an end bearing carried by the casing of thecontroller, and the arrangement whereby the controller shaft is biasedto the position indicated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3.

Referring to Fig. 1, the controller com` prises a plurality of rows ofcooperating relatively movable switch elements disposed along the axisof thecontroller shaft 10, One of these rows of cooperating elementscomprises a .row of relatively movable coop` 1927. serial No. 188,808.

erating switch contacts, together with operating means therefor and theother row includes a rod carrying rollers spaced apart to operate therespective operating elements of the switch contacts. 1n order to obtainan easy imderstanding of the invention, only two sets of switch contactsare shown on the opposite sides of the shaft 10. Thus, on the right ofthe shaft 10 there is mounted a row of stationary switch contacts 11 and12, with which the bridging contacts 13 and 14, respectively, cooperate.The bridging contact 18 is carried by a member 15 of insulating materialwhich is mounted on the rod 16 for rotation about this rod. The member15 is biased by the spring 17 to such a position that the switchcontacts 11 are bridged by the bridging contacts 18. The bridgingcontact 18 is moved out of engagement with the stationary contacts 11 bymeans of the roller 18. This roller is carried by the supporting rod 19which has the leftehand end thereof supported in the bloclr 2O and theright-hand end .thereof mounted in the block 21. The re` mainder of therow of switch contacts and the operating mechanism therefor includessubstantially identical mechanism to that described in connection withthe mechanism operated by the roller 18. Thus, the roller 22 operates aninsulating member 23 corre* spending to the member 15 previouslydescribed, and on the opposite side of the con,- trol-ler the rollers 24and 25, respectively, Opf erate similar switch contact mechanism.

It will be seen from the above that the switch contact mechanism and theoperating mechanism therefor for controlling a plurality of electriccircuits may be similarly constructed parts which are duplicated asdesired to build up the complete controller so that these parts may bemade by large scale production ymethods, an advantage which will bereadily understood by those skilled in the art. Furthermore, thearrangement is very readily susceptible of expansion or contraction ofthe number of switch contacts to be successively operated, at the sametime ob taining all the advantages of the manufacture of duplicate partsfor the various switches.

ln order to obtain a sequential operation of the row of switch contactsmounted on the rod l16 and the corresponding row of switch contactsmounted on the rod 26 on the opposite side of the controller, I haveprovided an arrangement which also lends itself very readily to largescale production methods. It will be seen that the :rods 16 and 26carrying the rows of switch contact elements are spaced apart from thecontroller shaft 10 and are mounted in parallel relation therewith. Therod 19 and the corresponding rod 27 on the other side of the controllershaft are also spaced apart from the controller shaft 10 and areinclined at an angle thereto, as is indicated in this skeleton view.Thus, by mounting the right-hand end of rod 19, near the upper edge ofthe bloclr 21 at the right-hand end of the controller shaft and theleft-hand end of this rod near the lower edge of the corresponding block20 at the lefthand end of the controller shaft 10, the rollers on theshaft 19 will be successively brought into engagement with the membersof insulating material which carry the bridging contacts correspondingto the contacts 13 and 14, so that the circuits controlled by therespective switch contacts will be successively opened. It will beobserved that although in one plane the rod 19 is mounted parallel witha plane containing the shaft 10 for any position of the controller,there is no plane which contains both the shaft 10 and the rod 19. Thatis because of the fact that the rod is inclined at an angle to the shaft10. From this it can be seen that the rod 19 and the rollers carriedthereby rotate as a unit about the axis of the shaft 10, an axisdifferent than the axis of rotation of the rollers carried by the rod19, so that as the shaft is rotated clockwise, the bridging contact 18is iirst caused to break engagement with its corresponding stationarycontacts 11, next the bridging contact 1a is caused to break engagementwith its corresponding stationary contacts 12, and so on along the rowof contacts. v.Tvhen the shaft 10 is rotated counter-clockwise from itsposition indicated in Fig. 1, the row of switch contacts mounted alongthe rod 16 are likewise successively operated, beginning with theleft-hand end of the controller. The rod 19 is preferably mounted sothat the radial distances of the ends of this rod from the aXis of theshaft 10 are equal. The shaft 10 is operated by an arm 28 which carriesa roller 29.

The controller shown in the drawing is particularly intended for use asa limit switch for controlling the slowing down and stopping of anelevator motor when the elevator has reached predetermined limits oftravel. For such application the entire assembly will be mounted on theelevator car and the roller 29 will be positioned so as to be engaged bya stationary cam in the hatchway. However,

I would have it understood that. the invention is not necessarilylimited to its application as a controller for governing the slowingdown and stopping of an elevator at these limits, since the inventionhas a much wider application, as will be readily understood by thoseskilled in the art from an understanding of the invention.

rllhe blocks 2O and 21 are secured in respective ends of the shaft 10 inany suitable manner. Thus, l have indicated the block 20 as secured tothe shaft 10 by means of the cotter pin 30. rlhe reds 19 and 27 arepreferably threaded, as is indicated in Fig. 2, so that the rollerscarried thereby may be readily adjusted along these rods so as to obtaina very accurate timing action in the opening and closing of thecontroller switch contacts. The particular arrangement for obtainingthis adjustment is shown in detail in Fig. 5. The roller 22 is carriedby the part 31 which has an internal thread corresponding to the threadon the rod 19. The locking nut 32 is provided for securing the member 31in its adjusted position along the rod 19. The end of the part 31 issquared as is also the nut 32 so that this adjustment may be had byturning part 31 with a wrench while holding nut` 32, and then tighteningthe nut when the part 31 has been adjusted to its proper position. Itwill be observed from this figure that the roller 22 has an exteriorsurface which is at an angle with respect to the axis of the rod 19. Thepurpose of this is to obtain a relatively large area of contact betweenthe roller and the cooperating spring pressed part of the rows ofcontacts mounted along the shaft 16.

One of the features of the invention is that the greater the extent ofrotation of the shaft 10 from its neutral position indicated in Fig. 1,the greater the force will be tending to return theshaft to its neutralposition. Thus, the effect of the springs which bias the sets of switchcontacts to their respective closed positions tend to return thecontroller to the neutral position, and the more of these contacts whichare operated to their open positions, the more of these springs therewill be brought into action to bias the controller to its neutralposition.

By referring to F ig, 2, it will be seen that the controller parts aremounted within a casing 83, within which the rods 26 and 16 aresupported. T he ends of the shaft 10 are suit ably journaled in the endsof the'casing 33, as indicated. In Fig. 6 I have shown a detaill of themanner in which the right-hand end of the shaft 10 is journaled so as tospring bias this shaft to its off or neutral position. Thus it will beseen that the end of the shaft fits in a journal which forms a part ofthe member 35 which is adapted to be bolted to the right-hand end of thecontroller casing 33 in alignment with an aperture therein. The

.bloclr 2l is provided with a pin 36 which is inserted between theprojecting ends of a biasing spring 37 positioned about the journal 34.lVith this arrangement, when the shaft l0 is rotated in eitherdirection, the spring 37 will be put under strain tending to return thecontroller to its neutral position.

The row of resistor tubes 38 is supported by and insulated from the rods39 and 40, the ends of which are secured in the ends of the casing rheseresistor tubes are thus mounted in convenient location for connectionwith suitable switch contacts of the controller so that the leadsbetween the controller contacts and the resistor terminals are veryshort. The tubes mayrbe'tilted baclt as a unit so as to obtain access tothe switch contacts, by opening the fastening of the resistor tube unitwith one of the rods 39 or l0 and swinging the unit about the other rod.

Another feature of the controller is that by reason of the verticalposition of the switch contacts, a natural blowout effect is had toextinguish the arcs formed at the switch contacts.

lt will be seen from the above that my improved controller lends itselfvery readily to large scale manufacture because of the fact that theswitch contact elements and the operating means therefor' are duplicateparts which can be manufactured by the ordinary large scale aroductionmethods. A further feature is that the rods 19 and 27 with the rollerscarried thereby are relatively light so that a small amount of energy isnecessary to operate the controller. A further feature of advantage isthat there is no wedging action which would tend to keep the controllerin any definite operated position.

llfhat l claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States is:

l. n controller comprising an operating member having a longitudinalaxis and mounted for rotation about an axis other than said first axisand disposed at an angle to the said other axis, and a row of spacedapart devices disposed parallel with said other axis and operated in apredetermined succession by said member.

2. ln an electric controller, a shaft, a plurality of separatelyoperable switches, two rows of relatively movable cooperating switchelements, of which one row is carried by said shaft and serves as theoperating mechanism for the other row, each of said rows being spacedapart from the axis of said shaft with one row parallel to said axis andthe other row inclined at an angle to said axis, whereby as the saidshaft is 'rotated the said switches are operated in a predeterminedsuccession.

3. An electric controller comprising an operating member having alongitudinal axis and mounted for rotation about an axis other than thefirst said axis and disposed at an angle to said other axis, and a row.of spaced apart relatively movable contacts mounted along said otheraxis and spaced apart therefrom to be operated in a definite successionby said member as the member is rotated about said other axis.

Ll. in electric controller comprising an operating member having a.longitudinal axis and mounted for rotation about an axis other than saidfirst axis and disposed at an angle to said other axis, a plurality ofoperating devices carried by said member and relatively movable withrespect thereto, and a row of spaced apart relatively movable contactsmounted along said other axis and spaced apart therefrom to be operatedby said devices in a delinite succession as said member is rotated.

rin electric controller comprising an operating member having alongitudinal axis and mounted for rotation about an axis other than saidfirst axis of the member, said axes being at an angle to each other sothat at any position of the member there are two planes each containingone of said axes which are parallel to each other and there is no planewhich contains both axes, a row of spaced apart pairs of cooperatingrelatively movable contacts disposed along the said axis ot rotation tobe operated in a definite succession by said member.

(l. ,an electric controller comprising a i'od mounted for rotation aboutan axis other than the axis of the rod, said axes being at a angle toeach other so that at any position of the rod there are two planes eachcontaining one of said axes which are parallel to each other and thereis no plane which contains both axes, a plurality of spaced apartrollers carried by said rod and adjustable along the rod, and a row ofspaced apart relatively movable contacts disposed along the said axis ofrotation ofthe rod to be operated in a definite succession by saidrollers.

7. fin electric controller comprising a rod mounted for rotation aboutan axis other than the axis of the rod, said axes being at an angle toeach other so that at any position of the rod there are two planes eachcontaining one of said axes which are parallel to each other and thereis no plane which contains bot-h axes, a plurality of spaced apartrollers carried by said rod and adjustable with reference thereto, asupport mounted parallel to said axis of rotation, and a plurality ofspaced apart switches mounted on said support to be successivelyoperated by said rollers.

8. An electric controller having a plurality of pairs of relativelymovable contacts, means tor supporting said pairs ot' contacts in a rowin spaced apartrelation for relative movement ofthe contacts of therespective pairs in parallel planes, and operating means for therespective pairs of contacts comprising arod disposed at an angle tosaid row of contacts and'movable about an aXis other than the axis ofthe rod to bring the rod into operating relation With the contacts ofthe respective 5 pairs in a definite sequence.

9. An electric controller having an operating shaft, a plurality ofspaced apart pairs of spring pressed contacts disposed parallel to saidshaft and spaced apart therefrom, and

operating means for successively separating the contacts of said pairs,the said means including a rod disposed at an angle to said shaft andextending along the shaft.

10. An elect-ric controller comprising a shaft, a plurality ofsubstantially straight rods connected With said shaft to be rotatedabout the shaft aXis, the ends of said rods being each spaced apartfromthe shaft a substantially equal radial distance and the 2o rods beingeach inclined at an angle to the shaft, each of said rods having aplurality of spaced apart rollers carried thereby and adjustable withreference thereto, a plurality. of supports mounted parallel to saidshaft,

and a roW of relatively movable spaced apart switch contacts carried byeach of said supports to be operated in a definite succession byassociated rollers carried by said rods.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 3d day of May,1927.

JOHN EATON.

